Law targets Texas mover scams

Movers who push contracts riddled with hidden fees on unsuspecting customers have thrived across Texas and the United States for years, and experts in the industry hope that a new state law will help law enforcement fight the problem.

Representatives from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, the Southwest Mover’s Association, the American Moving and Storage Association and the Houston Police Department will kick off “national moving month” Tuesday with a press conference, warning consumers about these illegal moving operations.

Anthony Fanelli, 37, was charged with securing execution of document by deception in March.

The recent arrests of two men charged with orchestrating a moving scam shed light on illegal operations posing as legitimate moving businesses in Texas, officials said. Anthony Fanelli, 37, and Andy Trinidad Bueno, 33, were charged with securing execution of document by deception in March, according to court records from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

Advertisements posted on Craigslist promised a flat rate and no hidden fees by the moving companies. Instead, dozens of people in cities around the state reported being victimized by the Houston-based scam artists who posed as a legitimate moving company and stole thousands of dollars or held onto household belongings until steep fees were paid, a practice known as “hostage moving.”

Complaints about the operation continued for three to four years, according to reports from the Texas DMV and the Better Business Bureau in Houston.

Andy Trinidad Bueno, 33, was charged with securing execution of document by deception in March, according to court records from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

Law enforcement and industry groups said such scams are difficult for law enforcement and prosecutors to stop. In 2011, state lawmakers passed a law aimed at rogue movers, and took effect Sept. 1. It increased penalties for businesses that transport household goods that are not registered with the DMV — a practice that could mean steeper fines and jail time.

Bill Harbeson, director of enforcement at the Texas DMV, said under the previous law, his unit essentially was only able to send letters to the fake moving businesses asking for administrative fees.

“We weren’t stopping them,” he said. “These people are elusive and very difficult to catch up with.”

He said if a police officer arrived on the scene when a scam was taking place, his only option was to suggest that the victims file a civil complaint because the arrangement involved a contract.

“We were frustrated because we weren’t getting anywhere,” he said. “With the success of the Houston case, we are hoping other jurisdictions will begin to criminally enforce.”

He said the new law makes it more expensive to be in the business without a state license.

John Esparza, the executive director of the Southwest Movers Association, lobbied for the bill to pass in 2011. He said the hostage moving problem is a “huge nationwide problem.” He said the previous Class C misdemeanor charge against those who engaged in the practice was so minor that it wasn’t worth local law enforcement’s time.

“There’s wasn’t a lot of teeth in the law,” Esparza said. “It’s been a national problem for a long time. We constantly get calls from around the country and state… Every year I asked myself, is this all we can do? Changing the law put all those moving companies, on notice.”

He said the new law will give prosecutors the ability to build cases against the rogue movers.

Sureesh Penikalapati, a Dell engineer living in Round Rock, watched a moving truck with all his possessions drive away after he told the movers he could not pay the inflated fee they were requesting. He believes that he was a victim of Fanelli’s operation and recognized the suspect’s mug shot when he was arrested in March.

In January 2011, Penikalapati said he hired a moving company, which he found advertised on Craigslist, to move his belongings only eight miles down the road to a new house at a rate of no more than $35 per hour. He signed a contract presented to him once they showed up at his door.

The movers took suitcases that contained passports, documentation and green cards belonging to the family into the moving van, even though Penikalapati asked that those remain in the house. The movers wrapped everything in plastic wrap.

Penikalepati was presented with an inflated bill because of the hidden fees amounting to about $5,000.

“I didn’t have that kind of money,” he said. “I told them I would give them $1,300 just to give me my passports and documents, but they said they don’t open the truck until I paid the whole amount.”

He said once he called the Round Rock police, officers said it was a civil case, not a crime. The movers then left with all of his possessions.

“They took almost everything in my house,” he said. “We slept on the floor for a month.”

He later tried to file a criminal complaint, but it was not accepted, he said. Penikalepati said his family is still in the process of getting their lives together. Originally from India, he and his wife have had difficulty getting new forms of identification. His wife could not travel to India when her father died this year, and she missed his services. He said he also lost photos saved on his desktop and laptop computers that were stolen.